It is important for pilots to know the position of the aircraft which they are operating (referred to herein as their “own-ship”) and other aircraft on taxiways and runways when taxing for takeoff or from landing. Navigation of an airport surface (taxiways/runways) can be difficult, especially in limited visibility of night and/or weather, or at unfamiliar airports.
Airport Moving Maps (AMM) are an overlay, for example, on a multi-function display/inertial navigation display (MFD/INAV), where airport features like runways, taxiways, and aprons, are shown on the display. The range may be reduced to increase the resolution of the display. Depiction of the own-ship position reference point is extremely important. In one known MFD/INAV, the own-ship symbol is a fixed object that doesn't change in size and shape. This own-ship symbol is an abstract representation and does not reflect the physical extent of the aircraft. This is an important consideration when correlating the aircraft symbol with a highly magnified/zoomed-in (small range on a large display) airport surface map. For example, a displayed aircraft symbol may be extremely larger than the runway. This scenario worsens when the traffic symbols are added. Displayed aircraft parked at a hold position of the taxiway may overlap and infringe on the runway, while in reality, the own-ship aircraft is much smaller than what is depicted and the traffic aircraft are parked with ample clearance at the hold-position. If the size of the aircraft are scaled such that they match their actual physical length on the runway/taxiway, at higher altitudes the aircraft symbols would be so small that they would not be easily visualized.
In another known MFD/INAV, an own-aircraft is represented by two symbols: one opaque own-ship symbol that scales to the range, and another outline aircraft symbol that does not change its shape or size.
In yet another known system, the aircraft symbol never changes in size. The size and shape is fixed so that it is normally is easily visualized on the display by the pilot; however, on an AMM, the range scale may be greatly reduced. AMM features are drawn such that the aircraft symbol is drawn above the physical features like the runways/taxiways/etc. At the lowest range, increasing the aircraft symbol size to match the physical length is not an issue. But at the intermediate ranges where the AMM just starts appearing or is drawn partially, the aircraft symbol size has to be reduced to match the physical length. This increases the difficulty for the pilot to comprehend the existence of the aircraft.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and system displaying aircraft on the ground in an airport environment that may be more easily understood by the pilot. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.